Development and Use of a Perfluorocarbon Tracer System (PERTRAS)

• Applicant: Dr. Hans Schlager
• Subject Area: Atmospheric Science
• Term: from 2007 to 2014
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 47285118

The project PERTRAS (Perfluorocarbon Tracer System) aims at the development and deployment of an aircraft-borne tracer release and detection system. With PERTRAS air masses of interest can be tagged with a perfluorocarbon compound and followed over a time period of up to three days for investigations on transport and mixing processes in the atmosphere, photochemical transformations of trace gases, and microphysical processes in aerosol layers and clouds. During the second phase of the project, PERTRAS will be deployed during five HALO missions (ML-CIRRUS, POLSTRACC, ACRIDICON, ChArMEX, CIRRUS-RS) for specific tracer experiments including studies on the life cycle of cirrus clouds, heterogeneous processes in Arctic lee-wave ice clouds, air mass transport and modification in deep convection, photochemical transformations in biogenic and biomass burning plumes, and evolution of persistent contrails into cirrus clouds. To meet the requirements of these tracer experiments, the detection capabilities of PERTRAS will be extended by two on-line aircraft perfluorocarbon tracer measurement systems, a GC/MS and a NI-CIMS. Both instruments complement each other in terms of time resolution and detection limit for perfluorocarbon compounds. In addition, the GC will measure conventional long-lived tracers (e.g. CFCs, SF6, N2O, CH4), and the NI-CIMS, and the already existing ATS (Adsorption Tube Sampler) can be also used for the detection of SO2, atmospheric acids and hydrocarbons, respectively, for missions not focused on PFC tracer experiments.

• DFG Programme: Infrastructure Priority Programmes
• Subproject of: SPP 1294: Atmospheric and Earth System Research with the "High Altitude and Long Range Research Aircraft" (HALO)